Original title: "Metis Hyperion: Igniting Hope for AI Narratives on Ethereum?"

Original author: Ac-Core, YBB Capital Researcher

1. Overview of Metis Hyperion

Metis is an Ethereum L2 ecosystem, which is based on Optimistic Rollup, and launched the Andromeda mainnet in the early days. In March 2025, Metis officially announced its dual-chain strategy: to launch a high-performance Hyperion chain based on the existing universal chain Andromeda. The former is positioned as a safe and reliable general-purpose L2, while the latter focuses on high-frequency, high-throughput, and AI-driven application scenarios. The Hyperion architecture is built on top of the Metis SDK, and at its core is the new MetisVM virtual machine (EVM-compatible to support AI-optimized instructions), with the goal of optimizing scalability and decentralization, while greatly improving transaction efficiency.

According to the official introduction of Metis, Hyperion is committed to building a "high-performance, AI-native" L2 network, which can achieve near-millisecond transaction confirmation and ultra-high transaction throughput, thus making AI-native applications (such as on-chain LLM inference and decentralized AI agents) possible. Overall, Metis uses a dual-chain architecture, with Andromeda emphasizing security and decentralization, and Hyperion emphasizing high-performance and AI applications, both of which provide complementary support for different use cases.

Overall, Metis' development path can be summarized into two points: first, continue to improve the core L2 infrastructure, such as adding real-time data availability migration and fraud proof mechanisms to the Andromeda upgrade in May 2025, making it the industry's first "truly decentralized" Layer 2, and second, moving towards modularization and multi-chain interoperability, lowering the development threshold through the Metis SDK, and promoting the development of the multi-chain ecosystem. The launch of Hyperion has reshaped the value logic of the METIS token to a certain extent: Metis is no longer just an L2, but a platform that transforms into a "multi-chain infrastructure + AI dedicated chain".

2. On-chain LLM? What is the logic implemented by Metis?

Image source: Metis

2.1 AI ecosystem closed-loop three-piece set: SDK, Hyperion, LazAI

Hyperion, as an Optimistic Rollup, inherits the security models of Metis and Optimism systems, mainly updating in terms of parallel computing, data availability, and decentralization. The main optimization direction focuses on AI and high-frequency application scenarios. Specifically, Metis promotes ecological construction through the three systems of Metis SDK + Hyperion + LazAI.

Parallel Execution Engine: Traditional blockchains typically execute in the order of transactions, while Hyperion introduces parallel execution technologies like Block-STM, allowing independent transactions within a block to run together. By adopting optimistic concurrency control and dynamic DAG scheduling algorithms, independent transactions within the same block can run simultaneously, significantly increasing throughput;

Decentralized Sorter: The transaction sorting rights of Hyperion are jointly held by a multi-node network, rather than controlled by a single node or a few operators. The specific mechanism includes Leader Rotation and Encrypted Mempool combined with Proposer-Builder Separation (PBS) to prevent front-running and centralized interference;

Data Availability: The Hyperion plan fully leverages Ethereum's new features and external DA services to ensure data availability. With the advancement of Ethereum EIP-4844, Hyperion (and Andromeda) will directly publish transaction data to L1 via blob transactions, inheriting Ethereum's security while reducing costs. According to official statements, Metis is also preparing to integrate EigenDA;

Fraud Proof Mechanism: Hyperion continues to adopt an optimistic model, but has upgraded its fraud proof. Metis committed early on to introducing a complete fraud proof mechanism and data availability solutions; its ReGenesis roadmap also proposed "executing the latest fault proof system from OP Stack."

In other words, Hyperion will adopt an interactive error correction mechanism: after the sorter publishes a new block, the "observers" in the network have a window period to submit challenges (such as a 7-day period) to prove that the block is invalid. Once this challenge is successful, the malicious block will be rolled back, and the responsible party will be punished.

In terms of AI-native infrastructure: The Metis SDK allows users to build their own L2 or L3 blockchains, which already integrate an upgraded version of the EVM (called MetisVM) and parallel processing capabilities, as well as a decentralized ordering mechanism. Hyperion is a high-performance AI-specific Layer 2 built with this SDK, which combines optimistic rollup, parallel execution, and distributed ordering to achieve near-real-time transaction confirmation and on-chain AI inference. Officially, MetisVM has improved transaction efficiency by about 30% by dynamically optimizing opcodes and parallel execution mechanisms. At the same time, MetisDB uses memory-mapped Merkle trees and concurrency control, and state access can be achieved in nanoseconds, almost eliminating storage bottlenecks. Together, these technologies allow Hyperion to run AI inference tasks like large language models (LLMs) directly on-chain, laying a strong foundation for AI contracts.

In terms of AI narrative project incubation: Metis is also actively incubating AI-related projects, such as the LazAI protocol. It is an open network focused on "trusted AI data assets", with the goal of solving the problem of opaque and inconsistent data used by AI. LazAI leverages blockchain's verifiable computation and standardization mechanisms to create an open and transparent data marketplace that ensures that AI models use high-quality data and can be used across chains. Based on this protocol, Metis has also launched the Alith framework, an AI agent development tool tailored specifically for blockchain. Developers can use the Alith SDK to quickly write AI agents on Metis and deploy them online.

The official also provided a very down-to-earth example: users only need to issue commands in natural language through the Telegram chatbot to complete lending and other DeFi operations, without needing to write smart contracts themselves. This design greatly lowers the threshold for ordinary people to use AI applications and makes the developers' work much easier.

2.2 Compared to other L2s, what capabilities does Hyperion enhance for Metis?

Hyperion is still based on Optimistic Rollup, and Metis has built differentiated competitiveness through forward-looking technology and strategic layout: Technologies like Hyperion meet the performance requirements of AI applications, the dual-chain and SDK model caters to both general and specialized needs, and decentralized ordering enhances ecosystem trust. The differentiated competition compared to other L2s mainly lies in aspects such as Hyperion architecture, dual-chain strategy, Metis SDK, and decentralized orderers.

High-Performance Execution Layer: Metis Hyperion is a high-performance Layer 2 aimed at AI, officially claiming to achieve near real-time settlement and Web2-level response speed through Optimistic Rollup, parallel execution, and distributed sorting technology. Hyperion introduces MetisVM—a virtual machine tailored for high-frequency trading and AI tasks, featuring dynamic opcode optimization, parallel execution, and caching mechanisms, significantly enhancing smart contract execution efficiency. Additionally, Hyperion has designed on-chain inference support for AI reasoning, including dedicated precompiled contracts and execution engine optimizations.

Dual-chain strategy (Andromeda + Hyperion): Metis retains the original Andromeda chain as a general-purpose L2 and continues to provide stable infrastructure for DeFi and other applications; At the same time, Hyperion was launched to serve AI scenarios. This "dual-network" architecture solves the trade-off between versatility and professionalism: it not only avoids the deadlock with other L2s in homogeneous competition, but also finds an exclusive bearing space for AI applications.

Metis SDK and Developer Ecosystem: Metis SDK is a modular toolkit designed for developers, integrating blueprints, building tools, and standard interfaces, allowing developers to quickly build custom execution layers or applications. Metis SDK enables developers to rapidly deploy Layer2/Layer3 using mature modules, and facilitates smooth migration or interaction between Andromeda and Hyperion, significantly enhancing the efficiency of ecosystem development and interoperability.

Decentralized Sorter: In 2024, Metis successfully launched the industry's first fully decentralized sorter, granting trading sorting rights to community nodes and a staking mechanism. This mechanism achieves fault tolerance and anti-censorship capabilities through rotating consensus nodes and incentive token governance, completely eliminating the risk of single points of failure.

3. If Ethereum focuses on L1, how will Metis respond?

Image source: investx.fr

3.1 If the main chain doesn't distribute rewards, Metis builds its own candy factory.

Assuming that Ethereum will focus on the development of its own L1 (such as underlying consensus and sharding upgrades) rather than continuing to directly expand L2, how can L2 platforms like Metis maintain and expand their influence? According to the All in AI strategic roadmap released by Metis, the current strategy for Metis is to pursue a modular and multi-chain approach.

First, Metis's dual-chain architecture and MetisSDK provide the capability to build multiple dedicated chains, while the launch of Hyperion marks Metis's transformation from a "single L2" to a "modular multi-chain infrastructure." With MetisSDK, any team can quickly create customized blockchains as if building with blocks—configuring parallel execution consensus, EVM compatibility layers, AI-optimized VMs, on-chain storage, and other components. This means that Metis not only operates two chains but also supports more "industry-specific chains": such as AI computing chains, DePIN infrastructure chains, and gaming chains, each meeting different scenario requirements.

Secondly, Metis emphasizes cross-chain interoperability and a collaborative ecosystem. The official roadmap and community communications have repeatedly mentioned the introduction of cross-chain bridging and data/computation aggregation mechanisms. It is not difficult to see that Metis will integrate Chainlink CCIP, allowing assets and smart contracts to flow freely between Metis and other public chains. The Hyperion architecture also emphasizes "shared bridge + cross-chain interconnection" and proposes "decentralized data and computation aggregation," connecting AI applications with various data networks and computing resources.

The community is not only users but also direct participants and beneficiaries of the network operation. By opening the role of a validator, anyone can become a block proposer through staking and receive sorting rewards. At the same time, Metis is planning to introduce an AI node operation incentive mechanism to encourage more developers to deploy inference services that provide on-chain AI capabilities.

3.2 Metis All in AI Strategy: How to Drive Ecological Development Through AI

Let's look at the problem directly: the current on-chain use of AI services, such as the transmission of results through oracles, has obvious centralization risks and performance bottlenecks. To address these issues, Hyperion and LazAI have partnered to introduce an AI proxy framework called Alith. Developers can use the Alith SDK to write "AI agents" and deploy them as contract modules on Hyperion, which can handle functions such as model selection, inference logic, fault response, etc., and other contracts on the chain can be directly invoked, such as chatbots, prediction tools, or DAO assistants. Through mechanisms such as precompiled contracts, Hyperion incorporates AI inference into the on-chain execution process, and the inference results can also be fixed on-chain through logs, reproducible operations, or trusted execution environments, so as to be verifiable and credible. This not only retains the transparency of the blockchain, but also satisfies the computing needs of AI, truly promoting "AI on the chain".

In addition, Hyperion's parallel processing and low latency are particularly suitable for AI tasks, allowing simultaneous execution as long as there are no conflicts between requests, which significantly improves efficiency compared to traditional L2 sequential execution. MetisVM has also been specifically optimized for AI, utilizing Rust/WASM to enhance performance and supporting various inputs such as text and images, enabling AI models to run directly on the chain. This entire design is aimed at achieving what Metis calls the "first Layer2 protocol that can locally run large language models on-chain."

Four, ETH Hyperion vs. Solana AI

Source of the image: self-made

4.1 AI Competition Arena

The market enthusiasm for Crypto+AI has undoubtedly been a huge success on Solana, and the Solana community is also pushing open protocols such as the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to allow off-chain AI models to query on-chain data through a standardized interface, and QuickNode demonstrates how to build it Solana's MCP server enables "legitimate" AI such as Claude to access Solana blockchain information directly via RPC. But AI solutions on Solana mostly run AI models off-chain and call the results on-chain.

As pointed out in "Solana and Base, which ecosystem is more suitable for AI Agents?": "Currently, all models, including all agents, run off-chain, with input data, training, and output information not on-chain; neither EVM chains nor Solana/BASE support the combination of AI and contracts," solutions like Solana+MCP have not truly "put AI models on-chain" to run, but merely allow AI models to safely access on-chain data.

However, the interesting part about Hyperion is that it attempts to have AI reasoning executed on-chain, which Solana has not achieved. If Hyperion realizes the first Layer-2 protocol that supports on-chain native execution of LLM, it means that Hyperion not only provides a data interface but also directly offers on-chain computing power for AI models to run within MetisVM, with each computational step completed within the execution environment of the blockchain. This design decentralizes AI more thoroughly than Solana's solution, as the AI reasoning results on Hyperion can be verified and traced on-chain, inherently resisting tampering and censorship; while Solana's MPC relies more on trusting external models and only ensures the security of the data pathway.

Of course, Solana has a natural advantage in basic performance with its high concurrency processing capability and mature GPU chip support architecture. Hyperion focuses on compatibility with the Ethereum ecosystem and ecological synergy: EVM compatibility, MetisSDK ecosystem, and METIS token liquidity.

Overall, Hyperion and Solana are not in a direct substitution relationship, but rather provide another approach to integrating blockchain + AI: Solana relies on its network performance + traditional LLM interface (MCP); Metis, on the other hand, relies on its smart contract platform as a foundation to launch native on-chain reasoning capabilities.

4.2 Is Hyperion the universal key to unlocking Ethereum AI?

To put it directly, Hyperion is not the current universal key. Most of the so-called "AI + blockchain" projects are still in the conceptual stage, with very few cases that can be verified as productivity applications. Issues of model ownership and trust have also not been resolved: how to track the source of models trained off-chain, and how to prove the correctness of their execution results on-chain? These are fundamental infrastructure-level questions that need to be addressed.

The system design of Hyperion addresses the above pain points to some extent. It solves some computing power issues by providing support for AI inference at the protocol layer: parallel execution and the optimization of MetisVM significantly enhance on-chain computing capabilities beyond traditional L2, but this does not imply that Hyperion solves all problems at once.

However, what can be confirmed is that Hyperion has brought new possibilities to Web3 AI and provided the Ethereum camp with chips to participate in the AI narrative. It mainly addresses issues related to computing architecture and trust foundations: a large amount of parallel computing power, on-chain verifiable execution processes, a modular toolchain, and native support for the special needs of AI. These efforts create possibilities for the emergence of truly practical blockchain + AI applications (such as on-chain autonomous agents and high-frequency data analysis), adding substantial content to the AI narrative in the crypto space.

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